ATF Director: ASA Supports Chuck Canterbury

Washington, DC – The American Suppressor Association (ASA), the unified voice of the suppressor community, fully supports President Donald Trump’s nomination of Chuck Canterbury to serve as the next Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). ATF has been without a permanent director since B. Todd Jones resigned in 2015.

“As the regulating body of our industry, ATF has a tremendous amount of control over our ability to operate and create jobs,” said Knox Williams, President and Executive Director of ASA.

“As the regulating body of our industry, ATF has a tremendous amount of control over our ability to operate and create jobs,” said Knox Williams, President and Executive Director of ASA. “Because of their influence over our businesses, the ATF Director is, for us, one of the most important politically appointed positions that President Trump will fill. His nomination of Mr. Canterbury, which does require Senate confirmation, falls directly in line with his campaign promise to work with the firearms industry and protect the Second Amendment. Mr. Canterbury’s resume and reputation highlight that he is the leader that ATF needs in order to become the bureau that they are intended to be.”

For the past 16 years, Mr. Canterbury has served as the President of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). During his tenure, in 2009, Mr. Canterbury went on record saying, “I want to mistake to be made. I take a back seat to no one in my reverence for the Second Amendment.” Prior to FOP, he spent 26 years on the Horry County, South Carolina police force, ultimately achieving the rank of Major (Deputy Chief).

We urge you to contact your Senator using the button below to urge them to confirm Mr. Canterbury quickly.

Canterbury is an anti-gun fanatic. The FOP has been a mouthpiece for the Brady organization for the past 30 years already, ever since the FOP was “bought” out of bankruptcy by Sarah Brady in exchange for their promise to sing the anti-Second Amendment hymn from that point on AND THEY HAVE UNCEASINGLY DONE SO EVER SINCE. The first thing Canterbury will do if appointed is move to BAN SUPPRESSORS! Knox Williams is an IDIOT for supporting this guy!

Boy, it seems that the ASA and NSSF have been busy pushing this hogwash narrative.
While “The Armory” has elected not to publish the propaganda piece from ASA directly, they have included a link to their site.
This same narrative has been appearing all over the place in gun centric blogs and news sites.
Such as:
“ATF Director Nominee — Record of Protecting 2A Rights” posted at Cheaper Than Dirt’s Blog
and
“ATF Director Nominee On Record For Protecting Second Amendment Rights” posted at Ammoland.

The ASA or NSSF attempt to convince us that Canterbury is a supporter of the Second Amendment by focusing on a few examples of his past actions.
However when considered carefully these examples show themselves to be empty rhetoric being used to deceive gunowners into supporting his nomination.
Perhaps I could have respected the ASA and NSSF position IF they had claimed that his appointment would likely benefit the industry by normalizing or smoothing out their business relationship with the administrative state.
But instead the narrative they have been pushing on American gunowners is an outright lie that his appointment will protect our rights.
It won’t.
He will continue to enforce existing unconstitutional infringements and will most certainly do the same with any new infringement that comes along. Whether lawfully passed into law by congress or enacted by fiat or edict from the executive branch.

(Read their propaganda piece first.)
The following are my refutations of their carefully crafted narrative.

Notice that every example of “support” for the right to keep and bear arms is entirely focused on the empowerment of police “only ones” or the continued enforcement of existing infringements. Infringements which the NSSF has backed.

The trace data issue wasn’t about our individual rights to arms, it was about protecting infringers by restricting information about possible police enforcement operations.

His only issue with the NFL’s ban on guns wasn’t about your rights, it was about those same “only one’s” empowerment to carry guns off duty at NFL events.

His apparent disagreement over so-called ”smart” guns was entirely rested upon the premise that his” more important than you” police would be the ”guinea pigs” in the experiment with guns designed to fail. Presumably if such devices were ever “perfected” he would have no issues against the government usurping undelegated powers by mandating such devices upon us.

The same goes for the banning of green tip penetrators.
Presumably if the data showed that some criminals were using it for crimes in any significant way he would be fine with the unconstitutional prohibition of said ammunition from the possession of such by us unwashed “mundanes.”

Don’t lie for the other guy is just more reinforcement of the ritualistic oath of fealty to the state and its usurpation of yet another undelegated power over the natural individual right to arms.

FFLPA is about creating another special privilege for those who have submitted to the state by paying the required protection money for permission from the crown to exercise the right to voluntary exchange.

So as I see it, there’s not one example of any support or “reverence” for the Second Amendment let alone the individual right to arms.